Life Unfulfilled
by Have Socks. Will Travel
Summary: There are few things in Rukia's life that she actually wants. But the one thing she desires with all her heart is beyond her reach; the one thing she can't have and will never attain.


**For my second Ichigo/Rukia fic, I will set a record of the shortest story I have ever written. Well, second shortest, but "Rin's Rebellion" doesn't really count as a full story. So I will say this is my shortest. Nuff said. I'm embarrassed because I don't do serious well, but I'm trying to "broaden my horizons" so I thought I would tread in uncharted waters, so to speak. So if you hate it, tell me. I don't want to go about broadening my horizons in a bad manner.**

**I also realize that the title of this story in no way ties into the story, but I was having title writers block and I went with the best (and most cliche) name that popped into my head. Sorry about that, but I usually have silly titles or a name already planned out. For this story, there was no such planning involved.**

**Oo0oO**

Behind her, the noise escalated until din reached that on par of an elephant and gazelle stampede. Really, all she wanted was to read her manga in peace, but at such a school as the one she attended, she would be hard pressed to find a bit of silence. From the roof, she heard the crack of the bat launching a ball into the lower atmosphere and the general hubbub of everyday school life.

Rukia sighed and folded the magazine back over on itself. Jamming her thumbs into her ear canals, she brought her knees up to her chest, the magazine propped up on them and took one last stab at reading the same panel in her favorite comic. It had been released new this week and she had been looking forward with much keenness to finally read the darned thing. She had bought at a corner stand on her way to school with Ichigo that morning and had saved it until lunch to read. But she should have known it would have been futile to attempt to take part in such pleasures. Not with the noisy Soul Society crew there.

Sighing after rereading the same speech bubble twice, Rukia dropped her knees back to the pavement and gave up her reading as time wasted. Instead, she leaned back on the wall and thought. Thinking above loud noises had become somewhat of a special talent of hers; teachers could be very noisy.

Originally, Rukia had been ecstatic when Renji had announced that he was coming down to the real world. Even when he had added that he would be accompanied by the normal crew, Ikkaku, Matsumoto, ect, Rukia still nodded, grinned and immediately rushed home to tell Ichigo what had transpired.

"_But now it's… different…" _Rukia thought. A door slammed and her warrior reflexes twisted her head toward the sound of the noise. Her guard, which had immediately flared up, dropped when she realized it was just Ichigo.

"Ah," He commented, seeing her up on the roof. "Same idea I see."

She nodded and patted the ground beside her. He took her offer and plopped down beside her, letting out a puff of bottled up exhaustion on the way down.

"You're missing a pretty good ball game down there." He commented. "Baldy's not a bad pitcher and I'm pretty sure that the baseball team'll try to recruit Yumichka, weird eyelashes and all."

Rukia waved her magazine idly and muttered, "I've heard the game. Sounds like a dandy."

"Renji's been asking about you." He continued, paying no heed to the sarcasm that laced Rukia's tone.

"Well, now that you've found me, why don't you skip on down and tell him where I am?" She asked, moodily flipping through the black and white pages.

"Nah," Ichigo replied, leaning back farther on the concrete wall and folded his hands behind his head. "I need a bit of a break from the 'crew.' And I take it that you aren't having the greatest of times with them here either, are you?"

He glanced over at her, shooting a questioning stare her way.

Rukia nodded her head, but then thought better of it and shook her head quickly.

"No," She said after a bit of thought. "It's not that I don't like them here, it's just that…" She drifted off, her attention caught by a bird soaring toward the sky.

"It's what?" Ichigo prompted.

"Well," Rukia said after thinking. "I liked it when it was… just us."

Ichigo raised a bemused eyebrow. "You what?"

Rukia gave him a puzzled look. "I liked it better when it was just us: you and me, the only shinigami. No, that's not what I mean."

She leaned back on the brick and sighed as she thought.

"It's like this: From the moment I got here, there's just been one problem after the other: massive Hollow attacks, me being taken back the Soul Society, Bount, and Arrancar; the list goes on."

"I think I get what you're getting at."

"There hasn't been a moment for me to be… normal. I've always been in some sort of trouble.'

She sighed and looked down at her hands.

"And now, in this moment of peace, my one chance to live the life of a semi-average girl, _they _show up. It's kind of like they're stopping my chance at a normal life by reminding me where I come from; that I'm not normal. As much as I'd like to be."

Ichigo smiled. "I don't think you've ever been 'normal.'"

Rukia smiled and bopped him on the head.

"I'd still like the chance."

Ichigo rubbed his head and laughed. "Well, if you want the chance, I have an idea."

He stood up. "Just go down there and pretend to be normal. You've proven yourself an able actress."

He offered her a hand and she took it, easing herself off the concrete gently.

"Karin gets by without ghosts bugging her by pretending they're not there. You just have to accept that you're life will never be the definition of 'normal.'"

He shrugged. "But whose job is it to define 'normal.' Maybe your adventure filled life is what all lives are supposed to be and everyone else's lives are just blatantly boring and abnormal. What matters is that you live with what you have."

They started walking to the door to the roof.

"They'll leave sooner or later and another problem will arise. It's better to _live_ in the time you've been given." He smiled down at her. "In a way, you've been given a second chance to make up for a pretty crappy first life."

Rukia smiled up at him and asked. "Ichigo, I didn't know you were so wise." Then she deadpanned. "Whose words are you stealing?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his head abashedly. "I heard that advice from a collection of people, including your brother and, surprisingly, my father. I had a bit of the same problem a while ago."

Rukia smiled and reached up to give him a noogie. They walked a few steps longer, smiles on their faces. Rukia grabbed his swinging hand and kept his pace.

He looked down at her, surprised.

"Thanks, Ichigo." She told him, "For the advice."

She grinned. "Even if you did steal it from someone else.

He grinned and gave her a noogie in return.

Then, hand in hand, the two peculiar teens made their way down the ordinary brick steps, back to an ordinary place, where ordinary people ran their lives in an ordinary fashion. And for once, the two didn't mind that they were one in a million. Because for once, they _weren't _one in a million: There was another person in that million who felt the same way they did. They had found each other, and for once, they weren't alone.

**Oo0oO**

**OKAY!! So that ending made absolutely no sense with the rest of the story, but I needed to end it somehow. And that was the only way I could think of… Ah, well, what's done is done in my opinion. I'm just glad this oneshot actually worked out. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. (I am my own worst critic...)**

**Review!**


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